Servant Leadership: How Putting Others First Can Change Your Life

As you embark on your journey to a healthier lifestyle, it’s natural to spend a lot of time focusing on yourself. That’s actually a great thing, because self-discovery is critical for achieving any type of personal growth or change. In fact, before you begin personal training or workout classes at Envision Fitness, we ask you to sit down with a trainer to identify your “why.” This is because we believe having a clear understanding of what motivates you to live a healthier life gives you the fuel to turn your dreams into realities. It’s your “why” that gets you out of bed in the morning, keeps you on track with your routine, and helps you dig deeper when you hit a plateau.

However, focusing on yourself and your wants/needs all the time isn’t the key to reaching your goals; you also need to focus on building your community – inside and outside the gym.

Why? For starters, there are going to be days where it’s hard to keep going, no matter how strong your internal flame is burning. Maybe you’re tired or stressed about work or things at home, and before you know it you’re talking yourself out of going to the gym or following your meal plan for the day. Having a support system in those moments can be vital to your continued success. But more importantly, living a healthy, fulfilling life is about more than meeting your goals for weight loss, muscle gain, or athletic performance – it’s about becoming the best version of yourself.

At Envision Fitness, we believe your best self can only be achieved when you are always looking for ways to better not only your life, but also the lives of others. We’re talking about servant leadership.

What is Servant Leadership?

Servant leadership is a timeless philosophy that involves a balance of the two words. As a servant leader, you’re a “servant” first – meaning you always focus on the growth and well-being of your community before considering your own priorities or aspirations.

Basically, it’s about becoming a better person than you were before. By practicing traits such as patience, empathy, kindness, humility, selflessness, forgiveness, respectfulness, honesty, and commitment, you are able to better your character. This in turn builds better relationships with those around you, and makes you a more effective leader.

Servant leadership is core value at Envision Fitness. We believe a true leader is someone who puts those who place their trust in her or him first; someone who can coach and inspire those same people to accomplish great things as a team. Members and trainers alike, we are all here for each other.

As you approach each new day of your fitness journey, look for ways you can be a servant leader. A servant leader is someone who…

● Listens intently to others because they value diverse opinions.

● Helps cultivate a culture of trust by being empathetic and approaching every situation with an open mind.

● Supports their others’ emotional health by being a shoulder to lean on.

● Thinks deeply about their emotions and behavior, and constantly strives to become more self-aware.

● Encourages others to take action by leading by example.

● Never stops dreaming. They look beyond the day-to-day realities to see the bigger picture and stay motivated to achieve more distant goals.

● Trusts their intuition and learns from past experiences to predict what’s likely to happen in the future.

● Takes responsibility for the actions and performance of their community, and speaks up when someone acts in a way that doesn’t align with the group’s values.

● Stays committed to the growth of every person in their community, helping whenever and wherever they can.

● Builds a sense of community within their organization by providing opportunities for people to interact with each other.

Here are just a few examples of what servant leadership looks like at the gym:

● Grabbing ice for someone in your fitness boot camp when their injury flares up, even though it means you’ll miss part of the class.

● Sending encouraging text messages to another member when they don’t show up to the gym at their usual time or are tempted to skip a workout class.

● Making the new person at the gym feel welcome by being the first to introduce yourself, offering to work out together, or inviting them out for coffee afterwards.

When you practice servant leadership, it can truly transform all aspects of your life – it strengthens your relationships, makes your life feel more fulfilling, and ultimately helps create a more just and caring world. Are you on board?

Envision Your Community

While friends and family can be great motivators, sometimes it’s even more helpful to be surrounded by people who are experiencing the same journey you’re on – people who can show you that you’re not alone in the challenges you’re facing. From the moment you join the Envision Fitness community, you become a part of something bigger than yourself. You gain a group of people who will pick you up when you’re down, encourage you to push harder, and applaud your success. We only ask that you do the same in return.

What are you waiting for?! Get started on the path to a healthier life – schedule a free 90-minute consultation with a personal trainer by calling 952-444-2791, or fill out our online form.